New book by Mendon native views Cuban missile crisis from 3 perspectives

By Chris Bergeron, Daily News Correspondent

Sunday

May 20, 2018 at 12:01 AMMay 21, 2018 at 9:41 AM

From high altitude U-2 spy missions to tense White House negotiations, two area authors bring alive the drama of the Cuban missile crisis in an exciting new history that provides insightful lessons for today’s dangerous world.

In “Above & Beyond,” authors Michael J. Tougias, of Mendon, and Casey Sherman, of Marshfield, provide a harrowing account of the 13-day crisis in 1962 when President John F. Kennedy sought to defuse the threat of nuclear war with Russia even as U-2 pilots braved death to provide crucial intelligence.

Subtitled “John F. Kennedy and America’s Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission,” the authors’ second collaboration employs revealing interviews with the last surviving U-2 pilot, the sons of Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and others to give readers a gripping immediacy into the crisis that could have triggered World War III.

“I’ve always aimed to give readers a fast-paced book that keeps them on the edge of their seats,” said Tougias, who has written 29 books. “I think ‘Above and Beyond’ reads like a novel rather than a traditional history.”

Tougias and Sherman previously collaborated on “The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Rescue,” that was made into a 2016 movie starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck.

As writers of best-selling nonfiction, Tougias and Sherman chronicle the October crisis when the U.S. and Soviet Union teetered on the brink of nuclear war through the interwoven perspectives of three men, Kennedy and U-2 pilots Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby.

The only person killed by enemy fire during the crisis, Anderson died Oct. 27, 1962, when his aircraft was shot down over Cuba. The same day, Maultsby lost his way on a flight near the North Pole when his navigational instruments were confused by aurora borealis, and he flew 300 miles into Soviet airspace, prompting Russian paranoia that could have escalated into war before barely making it to safety.

While many accounts have been written about the crisis, Tougias and Sherman bring readers into the cockpits of U-2s flying at altitudes of 13 miles to provide vital information and contentious White House debates about how to force the Soviets to remove ballistic missiles from Cuba without starting a nuclear war.

Utilizing transcripts of secret recordings of the discussions authorized by Kennedy, the authors reveal the president as a “methodical and deliberate” strategist who resisted intense pressure from Air Force chief of staff Curtis LeMay who called for an invasion of Cuba.

Tougias, who has written several popular accounts of maritime survival such as “Ten Hours Until Dawn” and “Overboard,” said his new book “continues my focus on people who display courage and make life-saving decisions under great stress.”

He said contemporary politicians could learn from Kennedy’s ability to respond to the crises’ changing dynamics and maintain control of contentious elements within his own administration to eventually forge a compromise with the Soviets that ended the nuclear threat.

A former television news producer for WBZ-TV, Sherman established himself as an author with “A Rose for Mary,” about his aunt’s murder possibly by the Boston Strangler, a book about mob hit man Joseph Barboza and, more recently, “Boston Strong,” about the public response to the Boston Marathon bombing.

Over the course of 10 books, including two novels, Sherman said he remains focused on examples of “courage under fire” whether in the maritime rescue of “The Finest Hours,” the resilience of survivors of the Marathon bombing or Kennedy and the U-2 pilots in his newest book.

“Every story I write starts with the heartbeat of a character. What are their hopes and fears? What makes them take risks and save lives?" he said.

Sherman said he hopes President Donald Trump reads “Above & Beyond” because it documents JFK’s recognition that restraint did not mean weakness and revealed his ability to resist pressure from militarists like LeMay who called for an invasion that would likely have prompted a severe Soviet response.

A Cape Cod native now living in Marshfield, Sherman had a personal reason for wanting to join Tougias in investigating the Cuban missile crisis.

“In October 1962, my father was a 20-year-old U.S. Marine stationed in south Florida,” he recalled. “If Kennedy’s negotiations failed and the U.S. invaded Cuba, my dad could have ended up cannon fodder on the beach. It was a story I could sink my teeth into.”

Readers will feel the same way.

Related events

Michal Tougias will discuss “Above & Beyond” at the following locations: